Client: United Nations (prospective)

Team: Kevin Poon, Shan Wei Chew, Sophie Judson, Azri Azmi (civil engineer), Jack Skinner (civil engineer), Jonel Li (civil engineer)

Location: New York City

Type: studio project

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Functioning as an archive which holds war-related artefacts, the architecture pinpoints the past as a bedrock for the future. Through this, we begin to see two characters taking ideological and physical form. One is heavy and opaque, and can be read as a time capsule to hold history. The other is light and translucent, alluding to the brightness of the future.

 

From these divisions, four definable spaces emerge; the forum, the archive, the world offices, and the global living room. Whilst four physically divided spaces, they form an architecture with a strong connecting vertical journey. The building is made monumental through this vertical journey revealing a series of atria. These large voids and vertical links are made possible by the exoskeleton.

 

The story-telling of such journey is supported through the bespoke design of passenger lifts. The functional yet expressive design matches the aims of the architecture: to create a simultaneously somber and thrilling experience.

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The Four Spaces

The Lawn landscape park forms part of the Forum, where people gather, and lines the 1st Avenue. It is the site of respite and revolt, picnics and protests, inspiration and insurrection. It is a ‘gift to the city’ - a rare green space that mirrors the Highline on the other side of Manhattan.

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Visitors experience the Archive as part of the lift journey, allowing them to explore and contemplate on the history of war in a dark, dramatic ambiance.

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The World Offices are a 15-storey North facing atrium overlooking the UN General Assembly and the city beyond. Interaction hubs and winter gardens are weaved throughout the space, connected through bridges that stretch across the atrium.

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The Global Living Room is where the vertical journey culminates. It includes an auditorium, small reading rooms of different interaction levels as well as a community library with panoramic view of New York.